From Daum:
The ‘dens of prostitution and human trafficking’ run by Koreans must be driven out’
A small city in the United States has declared war against prostitution dens. Harris County in Texas has submitted a petition to revoke license for the three Korean-run massage parlors and one nightclub. South Korea finds itself unable to shake off the title as ‘prostitute exporting country’ even after having surpassed the $20,000 (USD) GDP-per-capita mark.
According to the local newspaper Houston Chronicle, the petition read that ‘the proprietors use young women, mostly from Korea, offer services.’ The County officials urged the court to shut them down for one year.
It is unusual for a local county to specifically target the Korean establishments, but in light of the several hundreds of complaints lodged by the local residents, it has led to 57 investigations. The County Attorney for the Harris County reported that the Korean establishments had been under investigation since 2009,’ adding that among the women in ‘handcuffs and shackles’ shown on TV, 6 out of 7 were Korean.
These prostitution establishments are staple wherever there is a sizable Korean population, whether in Los Angeles, Atlanta, New Jersey [USA], et cetera, causing headaches to respective their respective authorities. Same goes for Australia and Japan. The Washington Post ran a cover story last year that reported that ‘Korean massage parlors are a beachhead for prostitution.’
Learning to speak the local tongue
Detective Nam Jae-woo, the veteran investigator for overseas prostitution in Busan said that the reason for their working overseas is that these women ‘can make a great deal of money in a very short period of time.’ Detective Nam has been on working the case since 2001 with the creation of the International Crimes Division.
According to the police investigation, those who work in Japan or Australia take on 5-6 customers, up to 10, with the fee of $200-$250 (USD) per session. Loan sharks or brokers, or establishment proprietors select them through the interview process. Among them, said the police, those with the good looks that can command up to $400 (USD) per session are high in numbers.
The majority of the women make up to $40,000 to $50,000 (USD) per each outing that lasts around two months and taking a break for a few months before going abroad again. Their grasp of the local language is minimal, often no more than ‘[N]ice to meet you,’ ‘[H]ow do you like it?’ ‘[H]ow long do you want it?’
Overseas prostitution has persisted since the 1990s in Japan and elsewhere. For instance, in 1995 when the Great Hanshin earthquake took place, Korean women returned home en masse. Those who stayed behind made a handsome profit. The rumor of the shortage of Korean prostitutes ‘created a frenzy in the market,’ or so it was widely reported.
Detective Nam said that since the early 2000s, the focus of crackdown was on passport forgery but not on overseas prostitution itself, which may have helped grow the volume of the number of overseas prostitutes.
A woman in her mid-30s ended her own life last year in Busan due to the massive debts she held. From the police investigation it emerged that she went 11 times to Japan for prostitution. Police officials pointed out the linkage between the overseas prostitution with the loan sharks.
The manner in which the loan sharks send out women overseas is similar to the labor market. According to the police, four loan sharks fought over who gets to send over a woman who owed all four of them debts. The woman in question was eventually shipped out by one of the loan sharks to Japan, then returned to Korea but is currently back out to Japan again.
According to the investigators, the women in engaged in this business initially borrow $2,000 to $5,000 (USD) for lodging but in 2-3 years this would inflate to $20,000 to $30,000 (USD). The large number of them fall into the vicious cycle as a result of spiraling debt who are forced to go abroad for prostitution.
Comments from Daum:
조용히:
Funny Americans…….. These joints in America – are they likely to be frequented by Americans or Koreans?
그림자:
Please give them a life sentence so that they may finish off their career there. Those whores will cry victim and then suck in innocent Korean men into marriage. Unsuspecting men are not your prey.
AnJ:
What about the American GI rapists and attackers – can’t they deal with them first before talking about this?
newo:
This is all because of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family!!!
마라도나:
Just let them do their thing in Korea, this is a national embarrassment.
Nirvana:
Don’t meet women who speak English well….. 95%…… of them sucked off stinky foreigners… Unless they have a doctorate… The women who studied abroad really need be approached with caution… Also bear in mind that they will cheat on you 100%.
마란츠:
We want white-girl only red-light districts too. Western European women won’t come here so only Eastern European women please… Korean men want to do it with other races as well… Don’t give special treatment to Aussies, Japanese and Americans only. We need to legalize them as a legitimate and upstanding entertainment… No one was born without ‘that activity’ if you know what I mean….
자기야:
Not a single word wrong in ancient wisdom – [as the saying goes] women and dried cod need beating once every 3 day. Women and bowls will get smashed if put outside.
맛탱이간부엉이:
Prostitution is everywhere, in every country. But in South Korea there are simply too many of them. Why is that? I think it has to do with social inequality.
쌍둥이자리:
So so SO embarrassing…. When I went to Japan, I was so embarrassed by those Koreans….
007:
Japan seems cock-sure about two things regarding South Korea… One is the sovereign ownership of Dokdo island (using documents in their favor); the second is that the comfort women volunteered..(using the Korean whores who tar our nation in Japan as evidence). The ones whoring in Japan are the true traitors.
피크닉:
Prostitution nation… This is really something… And to complain to Japan about the comfort women issue;;; This is a real ‘kimchi issue’.
YB:
1 in 7 Korean women worked in the entertainment industry… what, you did it for college tuition? Of all the jobs there are out there? Men work in construction sites, don’t you know?
아기처럼:
Korean women, really.. They really are useless.
